Legacy of the MANTLE
by Seraphim.Saga
Summary: Former Colonial Magistrate, Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard meets UNSC Admiral David Anderson. The news have finally reached Earth of the crimes committed by the Terran Confederacy, and of the Zerg. Will eventually move into Mass Effect territory
1. Legacy of the Mantle

A/N - see bottom

I don't own any of these games.

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**Legacy of the "MANTLE"**

There was a time when the ancient humans had achieved a technological level that could rival even that of the legendary Forerunners. During that time humanity encountered one of the oldest species roaming the stars, the Chozo. They were a vaguely humanoid avian species who once ruled the galaxies. However, they had made so many changes to themselves that in the end, they lost the ability to breed. Therefore, as a species, they were on the brink of extinction.

The humans of the small mining colony K-2L came under attack by a group of organized criminals identifying themselves as Space Pirates (Apparently lacking the imagination to create a more unique name) A group of Chozo intercepted the emergency signal and hurried to the planet, but were too late to help. The only survivor was the then three-year old Samus Aran.

After a quick consultation with the few remaining Chozo elders(literally thousands of years old) it was decided that the sole survivor(who would have died if left alone) would be upgraded and enhanced to become a guardian of the galaxy, and carry the mantle left behind, once the Chozo had passed away. This required young Samus to undergo massive genetic re-engineering to become a hybrid species. This was made much easier by humanities highly adaptable genetic structure, allowing them to overcome and adapt to inhospitable terrain. Even then the process took a year to complete, but the result would prove to vastly surpass any and all expectations set by the Chozo.

So proud were they of their success that they failed to see the danger of the Space Pirates. Betrayed from within, all Chozo were eventually slain, leaving the teenage Samus as the last of the Chozo. The childhood of Samus completely lacked any and all contact with other humans as she was raised among a coven of Chozo elders, and as a result she had very few social skills. As time passed, Samus Aran would become a true living legend, able to complete dangerous missions that entire armies would have had trouble with.

Samus eventually became inflicted with the X-Parasite. The vaccine contained Metroid DNA wich fused with Samus very adaptable human DNA. This mix had two side effects. One was that her natural resistance to cold was severely impaired, the other was that the constantly reproducing X-Parasite, when consumed by her Metroid DNA, generated massive amounts of energy that seemingly had no limit. Her powersuit capitalized on this and absorbed the excess energy to power its many systems and shields.

All was not well however as the human government, the Galactic Federation, made her an outlaw after several extremely dangerous missions ended with her having to make some very hard choices.

Stripped of all allies and suffering serious injury Samus fled to one of the few remaining Chozo fortresses still in operational condition. Once there, she tended to her wounds to the extent of her skills and then entered the only working stasis pod left.

It would be a long time before she would once more walk among the stars as a living legend.

Humanity managed to not end themselves in the centuries that passed since Samus vanishing. Unknown to them however, was the massive war across the stars between the Precursors and the Forerunners. This war eventually ended with the Forerunners as the winners, but the Precursors refused to let them enjoy their victory. They secretly left behind a plague to avenge them.

The Precursors had traveled far and wide among the galaxies and one of the many forms of life they'd found was the Zerg, a hive mind species of insectoid creatures in a form of amalgamation of many other lifeforms. The precursors found this particular trait useful and swiftly weaponized some specimens.

Like a flood these devoured the space pirates and then descended on the human worlds. Though humanity suffered massively at first, they lost colony after colony, only adding to the flood sweeping across the stars. In the end humanity had to resort to species wide genetic augmentation to gain immunity to the flood. The tide crashed against the shores of human core worlds, and was completely stopped. Fighting as one the humans held the flood in check for a long time, until they encountered the Forerunners.

The war with them was unlike any war humanity had fought up until then. In the end, fighting the flood on one front and the Forerunners on the other cost them the war. With humanity eliminated the flood once more swept unhindered across the stars. And by the time the Forerunners met the flood they were an unstoppable force. Too late did they realize that it had been humanity who had held the flood in check. And in eradicating them, there were now no longer any greater guardians to uphold the mantle of guardianship. In the end the Halo array was fired.

Locked inside the heavily shielded Chozo stasis chamber Samus Aran slept calmly. It drew power from Samus herself to sustain its functionality. Time would pass unhindered for her as millennium after millennium came and went. The galaxy was reseeded, life started anew.

For humanity, once standing at the apex of technological advancement along with the Forerunners, the journey back to rediscovering lost technology would take many years. Then came a massive boost as they settled on the moon and Mars, space engineering had become the foremost of scientific fields. Great advancement in engines during the later half of the 23rd century made trips to the edges of the Sol system a simple task. Many settlements were built using resources mined from the many new finds on the planets now settled.

This soon caused a great divide as those living in space refused to send resources to Earth. Rich colonies even declared themselves independent, forming their own government.

It was during these troubling times that Wallace Fujikawa and Tobias Fleming Shaw created the first ever functioning translight engine. Vast resources were spent on creating the first human settlements outside the human core world of the Sol system. These early models had a reputation of failing, causing catastrofical engine meltdowns and subsequent destruction.

The new financial boom lead to several of the biggest companies staging a coup on earth, forming the United Powers League or UPL for short. In the violent unrest that followed, later known as the interplanetary war, the UPL gathered up thousands of criminals and state offenders into four super carrier colony ships. These prisoner were meant to travel to Gantris IV and setup a new colony world, much like how England had done with Australia.

The war effort and pure cheapness had resulted in only one ship to be outfitted with navigation systems, the others would simply follow it. Faulty programming lead to a system error and with all crew in cryo sleep, the four ships continued on course for twenty-eight years before the engines on the lead ship Nagglfar had a meltdown and exploded. The other three ships was violently thrown out of slipspace in a part of space identified as the Koprulu sector.

The crew, guards and prisoners would eventually settle on the planets their ships crashed on. Tarsonis, Umoja and Moria were settled by those who survived. In the first fifty years the ships were stripped of all useful materials and the technology was lost. Only the ship that crashed on Tarsonis had proper scientists aboard, who had some form of understanding of the theories surrounding warp space. they would eventually develop spaceflight based on the theory of black holes. The first practical application of a warp engine used the repurposed slipspace engine of the colony ships.

As the Tarsonians had access to the only surviving data storage, they had a technological head-start on their stellar neighbors. Even so, it took them sixty years to build second-generation subwarp engines and eventually discover the other two colonies. With Moria and Umoja resolving to go their own way, the inhabitants of Tarsonis spread throughout the sector, eventually creating an interstellar Terran Confederacy. They also came into conflict with Moria over its own colonies. The Morians founded the Kel-Morian Combine to fight back, sparking the Guild Wars but eventually lost it. Umoja, in order to safeguard their interests, founded the Umojan Protectorate. An uneasy status quo settled between the three nations. Due to the many criminal settlers, rebels were numerous in all systems, most, if not all centered against the Confederacy.

On Earth the UPL was eventually cast down and the new United Earth Directorate, or UED for short, took its place. Using military leadership as a template, the UED managed to unite even those who had fought the hardest against the fascist UPL. The UED was an effective civilian leader, but in order to avoid unrest, all military forces were placed under the newly formed United Nations Space Command, the UNSC worked hard to unite the many different military organizations scattered throughout the colonies into one single fighting force. With the UED tending to the civilian sector, there were very little dissention and the UNSC could complete the more peaceful tasks of exploration and scientific advancement.

The UED created the Colonial Administration Authority, abbreviated CAA, to maintain control of the colonies beyond the core worlds and in doing so sparked a truly massive war as insurrectionists fought to overthrow the administration. In a matter of months the newly formed CAA sent UED core world fleets to suppress all colonies, even the far off Koprulu Sector. Only scattered bits and broken pieces returned containing flawed data on some horrible new alien lifeforms.

Admiral David Anderson was dispatched by the UNSC to investigate the Office of Naval Intelligence's suspicion that CAA was behind the insurrection and was abusing their position. First he was to identify the potential threat in the Koprulu Sector, secondly to confirm ONI intelligence.

After the Admiral had left on his journey the UNSC lost contact with the colony world harvest. The fist confirmed alien contact had started horribly. ONI tried to piece together these aliens with the limited data from the CAA fleet sent to Koprulu but failed to see any similarities. It was unanimously decided that the Covenant who struck at Harvest were unaffiliated in any way with the Zerg of Koprulu. They would simply have to wait for Admiral Anderson's report.

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A/N

This was only the start. My previous SC story has so far only covered a single member of Raynor's Raiders on a few missions. This story will be bigger and cover a broader universe.

the (my version)halo/me setting will be the first contact war (like so many others) but I will try to tell it in a more calm method. Also, the halo MAC's = ME MAC's...no

Starships: Dreadnought Mass Effect

The dreadnought is the ultimate arbiter of space warfare; millions of tons of metal, ceramic, and polymer dedicated to the projection of firepower against an enemy vessel of like ability. No sane commander would face a dreadnought with anything less than another dreadnought.

A dreadnought's power lies in the length of its main gun. Dreadnoughts range from 800 meters to one kilometer long, with a main gun of commensurate length. An 800-meter mass accelerator is capable of accelerating one 20 kg. slug to a velocity of 4025 km/s every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of 38 kilotons of TNT, three times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.

When used to bombard planets, some of this kinetic energy is lost due to atmospheric re-entry friction. As a rule of thumb, each Earth-atmosphere of air pressure saps approximately 20% of a projectile's impact energy.

Info from Mass Effect wikia - wiki/Dreadnought#Dreadnoughts

**HALO**

Standard Magnetic Accelerator Cannon

The standard ship-mounted MAC fires a 600-ton ferric-tungsten projectile with a depleted uranium core at 30 kilometers per second. The large amount of energy needed to fire the weapon is particularly onerous on a warship, and the extended recharge time is a significant factor in combat against Covenant warships as multiple MAC rounds are required to penetrate Covenant shields. At 2.7e14 Joules per shot (KE=.5 x 600 000 kg x 30 km/s x 30 km/s), it has a standard destructive output of 64.53 kilotons TNT-equivalent.

"Super" Magnetic Accelerator Cannon

UNSC Orbital Defense Platforms typically mount larger and more powerful versions of the standard Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, nicknamed _"Super"_ MACs or the _"big stick"_.

These cannons fire a 3000-ton ferric-tungsten round at 12,000 kilometers per second,[3] or point four-tenths the speed of light, impacting with a massive amount of kinetic energy.

No known ship, UNSC or Covenant, has been shown to survive the impact of one of these rounds. Against Covenant shield technology, the rounds possess enough kinetic energy to punch through shields, cut through the ship, and, upon exit, still retain enough energy to destroy a second ship, and cripple a third ship.

It is theorized that if a ship's armor or shields were to absorb all the kinetic energy of a super MAC round, the release of thermodynamic energy would still vaporize the ship. By receiving power from ground-based power plants, orbital platforms could achieve recharge and reload times as short as five seconds.

Info from Halo wikia - wiki/Magnetic_Accelerator_Cannon

The "small" Halo MAC's = 64.53 kilotons of TNT

The biggest ME MAC's = 38 kilotons of TNT

Ship size.

Mass Effect wiki/Starships

As of 2186, the dreadnought count was 39 turian, 20 asari, 16 salarian, 1 Volus

50 000 ships, some armed, no new, next to no pure warships. info from - wiki/Migrant_Fleet

between 2183 - 2186 the Turians built 1, the Asari lost one and the Volus built their first and only.

Batarians will most likely have at least a few (5?) lack of resources prohibits larger numbers.

The Terminus systems and the Hanar might have a total of ten between them.

The Fleets arrive video shows many thousands of ships. 50k belong to the flotilla. what remains is divided like the following: 33% Geth, 33% Turian, 20% Asari/Salarian, 14% "The rest"

Halo Smac's beats 2 ships + half of a third. Lets say 4 mac rounds (2 for the shields and 2 for the armor) beats ONE Covenant ship. ONE smack would then equal ((4+4*2)+2) to kill two and only cripple a a third. 4+4=8, 8*2=16, 16+2 =18, 18*64.53=1161.54 kilotons of TNT...EVERY FIFTH SECOND. It will really hurt to take any fortified human world (Earth had 300 during the human-covenant war) ONE fleet admiral was in command of at least 75 ships, a portion of earths home fleet. His fleet alone equals the Citadel council fleet.

Halo - wiki/UNSC_Navy

wiki/Covenant_Navy

The Covenant navy outmatches humanity, humanity is a match for THE COMBINED CITADEL NAVY.

there is a shaky but permanent alliance between the separatists and the UNSC. They will fight as one against a perceived threat.

The Geth dreadnoughts is particularly formidable. It is nearly one-third larger than a Citadel Dreadnought and are only limited by resources.

This will eventually be a Halo-Mass Effect cross over. In this story the UEG(Halo) is replaced with the UED(Star Craft) The UED is EXACTLY like the UNSC (disciplined soldiers working with several smart AIs) and therefore does not suffer from incompetent politicians. I have made Samus the last remnant of both the extinct Chozo and ancient humanity. She will eventually be discovered, but until then she'll stay in Chozo stasis.

I always wondered why the player character from SC1 was left out from SC2. In this story I will make the Magistrate (called Commander in the game) into the female Sheppard. How does: former Colonial Magistrate, Commander Jane Shepard sound?


	2. Chapter 1 The Sara System

A/N at the bottom

I don't own any of these games, They're owned by people with better paying jobs than mine. This disclaimer apply to every following chapter in this story.

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**Legacy of the MANTLE**

**Ch.1 The Sara System.  
**

Admiral Anderson opened his eyes and was immediatley blinded by the sharp light raining down from the ceiling. Thanks to recent developments in Slipspace drives, the trip to the Koprulu Sector now only took about seven months. It was still the most remotely inhabited sector of human space. Blinking away the tears caused by the bright light, Anderson grabbed the handlebars on the inside of his Cryo-chamber and heaved himself out. There were several crew members walking about, tending to other Cryo-chambers being reactivated. Tech Chief Mayumi Hayasegawa and Medical officer John Mitchell stood in front of him.

Mayumi grabbed the admiral when he nearly collapsed from Cryo fatigue. "Easy there Admiral, you're still weak from the cryo-sleep. John, how Is the Admiral doing?" The Medic checked the readings on his data pad and eventually replied with a short "He's fine." before going about, helping other crew members.

Anderson thankfully received his clothes from the Tech Chief and got dressed. Once that was taken care of he wanted to know if there had been any problems. This had been a very long trip after all.

"Mayumi, whats the status of the fleet, are we doing alright or has there been any problems?"

The techie flipped through several files on her PDA before answering him. "All ships are reporting green across the board sir. The fleet is operating at full effect , no anomalies have been detected. We'll exit slipspace in twenty minutes. The Captain wanted to talk with you as soon as you were out of cryo."

"Good, I want a full check of weapons and shields BEFORE we exit. Who knows what we may come upon here. I do want to be ready in case things go south." Anderson stretched his aching back and left for the bridge.

"You'll have a report on your monitor in ten, sir" Mayumi yelled at the disappearing admiral's back.

On the bridge of the Valiant-class super-heavy Cruiser, the UNSC Enigma, Captain Cray Florence was busy giving out orders to the crew when Anderson entered. "ADMIRAL ON THE BRIDGE" one of the guards yelled and all staff gave a brisk salute. "At ease." he replied and walked up to the captain who then greeted him.

"David, did you sleep well?"

"Like a log, Captain. Sitrep. How's the fleet?"

"Better than I thought. Seven months of constant activity and the engineers can't even find a noticeable drop in performance. I'd say we passed the threshold of expectation on this one David." Captain Cray then turned to the small pedestal where there was an image of an elderly gentleman in Victorian-era clothes currently reading a newspaper. "Thomas, could you have a look at the engines for me? I'll never trust charts and statistics. I want to know how they're doing."

the A.I avatar folded his paper and seemed to rummage around in one of his pockets. Once he found what he was looking for he then put a pair of spectacles on his nose and read from the piece of parchment in his hands. "My readings say that the engine output has decreased by 0,000213% since the transition to Slipspace, Captain. Even if theres no problem detected by my sensors I still think that we should do a visual inspection after the transition to real space. I also asked the other ships and they say more or less the same thing. The fleet is doing very well."

"Thank you Thomas." He then turned to the Admiral and handed him a data pad. "Some of the ONI ladies down at block eleven has thoroughly examined any and all surviving information, from the CAA funded UED fleet. Even if no ships returned, at least some of their data transmissions managed to reach one listening outpost. They wanted you to come see them as soon as you had time to spare. Apparently they found some interesting tidbits of useful data and wanted to show you."

Anderson examined the data pad before putting it in his pocket. "I'll go talk to our ONI detachment later, right now I want you to tell me how large my fleet is. It would seem as if my good old friend, Fleet Admiral Hacket, failed to tell me that I would be commanding an entire assault fleet and not the exploratory fleet I had expected."

"That wasn't Hacket's fault. You were supposed to have been briefed by ONI but then some situation or such took priority, while you stepped aboard and entered cryo. No one knew about it until the A.I said so, just a few minutes ago. Anyway, I'll just tell you now." Cray then left his command chair and walked over to the large holographic table. It was currently displaying the hull of the Valiant-class Super-heavy cruiser UNSC Enigma.

"This is your fleet. It consists of this ship as well as two big Carriers, four Marathon-class heavy cruisers, seven Destroyers and nine Frigates. We are carrying enough UNSC forces and armor to wage a proper war on the ground if we have to. ONI even sent one of their Prowlers with us."

the display showed each ship class as the captain was telling Anderson about them. The carriers and the heavy ordinance contained within their hold was surprising.

"Why such a big fleet?" Anderson couldn't come up with any viable scenarios where more than two or three frigates, and perhaps a destroyer, would be necessary for surveying a handful of colonies.

The captain just sighed"Thomas, show me the Zerg."

"Zerg?" Anderson turned his attention to Cray. On the table the display changed from showing the ship and instead showed an insectoid creature with four legs, large fangs and big claws protruding from its armored body.

"David, meet the Zerg. This is what we know, the UED fleet that got sent here encountered a massive fleet of organic alien spaceships. This is their main ground unit, identified as a zergling. Because the retrieved data was so horribly fragmented, only a small portion could be used, we don't really know all that much. But we do know that the zergling is their basic form. Essentially they're just cannon fodder but they will usually attack _en masse _and overwhelm their foes with massive numbers. There are several species within the Zerg and some are as big as a spaceship. The rest is just fragments, an image here, a recording there, nothing that can be used for intelligence."

As he was talking, Anderson was looking at the images that scrolled across the holographic table. Several of them made him cringe just a bit more than he wanted to admit. The fact that they could, and would, infect humans with a virus that horribly mutated them into willing slaves, and then sent those infested humans to attack was probably one of the worst things he had ever heard of. How the humans in this sector could cope with fighting these abominations was beyond him.

"So these xenomorphs, these zerg, are responsible for their defeat?"

"No David, they only played a part in it. The files recovered suggest that humans were behind it. The Zerg isn't the only alien out there." Cray tapped the second folder and the screen started displaying another alien. These were tall, armored and seemed to lack a mouth. "These are known as the Protoss. The data suggest that they were traveling among the stars way back when we thought that the bow and arrow represented the pinnacle of weapons design, in other words they are far more advanced than we are."

"I see. Are they hostile towards us?" Two possibly hostile alien species just didn't sound like a favorable situation to Anderson. Now he could understand the necessity of the fleet.

"As far as I know, and that isn't much, the Protoss have suffered extreme casualties at the hands of the zerg and the humans of the Dominion. So it's safe to say that they will most likely not be friendly."

"Who are the Dominion?"

"Sorry David, I keep forgetting that ONI never told you anything. The Dominion is currently the most powerful government out here. Then you have the Kel-Morian Combine and the Umojan Protectorate who only control a fraction of the Koprulu Sector."

Anderson nodded, this was why ONI so desperately wanted him to lead this fleet. He knew that when the news reported this, all hell would break loose. Perhaps the insurrection would stop in favor of unity against possibly hostile aliens. Then again, that might only fuel the rebels and cause a complete breakdown of UED and UNSC forces.

"So we need to be careful not to aggravate this already delicate situation then." Anderson just sighed, why couldn't he ever get the simple missions. Anyway, it just didn't matter, he was here and would do his job to the best of his abilities. "I'll see you later, once I'm done with ONI." and with that Anderson left the bridge and headed for block eleven.

"Admiral, you need to see this." One of the scientists shouted to Anderson as he stepped into the large room. Walking up to the man, Anderson noticed several charts displaying radiation readings and a few images of different stars displayed on the large screens.

"What did you find, um..." The scientist looked up from the screens he was studying. "Lars, sir. Lars Samuelson. ONI section four, alien research and countermeasure division. We found a bunch of mostly useless statistical data on the many conflicts the UED fleet engaged in. It would be of little use to us where it not for one important piece of information that survived intact without any data corruption. Namely radiation scans of every star the fleet visited, and we found an anomaly that we wanted you to be aware of." Lars then changed the screen to show normal readings from stars in UNSC space. "Here you have what we consider to be normal readings. Most stars deviate very little from this chart." Then he added the readings from the stars in the Koprulu. Several red lines showed where the two deviated from each other.

"What am I looking at Lars. I'm not a scientist so you'll have to translate."

"This is what I wanted you to see. Dr. Lynn, could you bring me the files on brain waves that you theorized could be affected by the anomalous radiation, please. I need to inform the Admiral." Sitting by one of the desks was a old lady with graying hair. She stood up and walked over to the two.

"Admiral, I'm the head of ONI Warrior Enhancements, a subdivision of section two." The woman then handed Anderson her data pad and pointed out some theories. "We believe that prolonged exposure to these radiations might cause unknown mutations in the brain. What these mutations could result in is currently unknown, but as there were no indications of any brain damages in the surviving files, I just don't know that to say."

Anderson looked at the radiation screen and then at the data pad. "I want the two of you to gather more precise readings once we get there, which should be soon." At that time the PA requested the Admiral's presence on the bridge. "I'll expect a report from you soon."

On the bridge Anderson took a seat and watched his fleet transition from Slipspace into real space. The star system that they had chosen for exit was identified as the Sara system. As soon as they cleared the portal he ordered every ship to charge MAC's and engage their shields. "Scan the planetes. I want to know if this system is inhabited."

"At once, sir." One of the female officers replied. Completing the task she put the results on the main screen. "Sir, I detect two inhabited planets in the system. By the look of things, they have recently been terraformed. There are settlements on them, as well as a few space stations around the planet furthest from our position."

Anderson considered his options. These people had been attacked by the UED only a few years ago, and with the Zerg and the Protoss, chances were fairly high that they might turn hostile if an unidentified fleet just turned up without explanation. In the end, the most efficient way would be to send only one ship into orbit and keep the rest of the fleet on standby if there were any problems.

"Captain, I want you to take us into orbit of... any one know the name of this planet?"

Thomas, who was reclining in a big couch on his pedestal, replied that the name was Mar Sara and that he had managed to make contact with an A.I construct calling itself Adjutant 79-56. He also said that the planet was in open revolt against the Terran Dominion.

Revolt? That didn't sound so comforting to Anderson. He was only here to observe the colonies and to confirm the threat of the Zerg and the Protoss. Joining a revolution was not part of that plan.  
"Thomas, if the planet is in revolt, who is the highest ranking individual on the planet"

The A.I then took out a phone and, well made a phone call. After a few moments he told Anderson that, since they had removed the local Dominion leader and because the General of the rebellion was on the planet, the highest ranking leader of any kind would undoubtedly be someone called General James Raynor. He was currently holed up in a outlying fortress named Backwater Station.

"Good, thank you Thomas. Captain, take us into orbit, I would like to talk to this Raynor person, see what kind of man he is." Cray relayed the order to the helm and walked over to the table where Mar Sara was on display. Backwater Station was highlighted and the long range sensors managed to pick up lots of movement on the ground.

* * *

Raynor was sitting in his barstool in his favorite bar on Mar Sara. Joeyray's Bar was comfy, and had that western feel to it that made bars like this so popular. Next to him was an old buddy he didn't think he would ever see again. Tychus Findlay had just showed up one day with a job offer from some Dominion company called Möebius Foundation. All they had to do was acquire a few ancient relics that the Dominion had made illegal. Simple job and easy money, as the first one had been taken from a Dominion archaeological dig site close by. Now all he had to do was to wait for Matt Horner to return and pick them up. That was why he spent his time in the old bar drinking.

Tychus was also there, drinking and joking with the other raiders. Raynor didn't blame him, he was out of prison and had not only found a friend but also a job. He had every reason to celebrate and Raynor wasn't going to stop him. The friendly atmosphere was broken when one of the Raiders yelled at Raynor to get his attention.

"Sir, Backwater Station is calling, something about a fleet in orbit and it's not ours nor the Dominion either. They say it looks like the UED fleet, but they're not sure." Raynor swept his drink and left the bar calling out to Tychus. "Get to the base, I'll go ahead and see whats up." Jumping on to his favorite Vulture-class hover bike he then gunned the engines and took off at a breakneck speed, boosted by the modified Ion thrusters. The speed was just a little bit over the maximum recommended, but Raynor was in a hurry and time was of the essence.

He drove through the many canyons that littered the landscape until he reached Backwater. Driving over the bridge across the steep canyon and then up a ramp into the main complex. The base had once been nothing more then a few barracks and supply depots. Then, after the new Magistrate had arrived, it quickly grew into a well fortified stronghold. Then the Protoss cleansed the planet with their purifying beam. After the planet had been re-terraformed and the people returned, Backwater was rebuilt. The militia remembered the Magistrate's ideas and had built the new base to better withstand an assault from the Zerg, or anything else that might attack. Now it was surrounded by narrow trenches and a deep moat with two bridges crossing into a flat open area, from there only one road lead up into the main area. This way, anything that managed to break through the defenses and gain access to the base would find themselves having to climb up a hill just to reach the second layer of defensive structures.

Raynor dismounted his Vulture and entered the command center. the control room was located at the heart of the building. Several of Raynor's raiders were manning the many consoles, teaching the local militia how to do it themselves. Raynor walked up to greet the sergeant he had left in charge. "Mitchell, what the hell is going on here."

Mitchell pointed to the tactical map and explained as the view changed to show the planetary overview. A fleet of unidentified ships was highlighted in bright red. "That fleet of ships just entered orbit half an hour ago. They made contact with us and now they demand to speak with you sir. I have examined the ships and they resemble that UED fleet from a few years back."

"Thank you, sergeant." Raynor activated the main screen and made the connection with the fleet. For several second only static showed on the screen before the connection stabilized. A man wearing black and gold clothing appeared, on his shoulder the rank insignia for an Admiral.

"Welcome to Mar Sara, Admiral. I'm James Raynor."

On the screen the admiral nodded. "Thank you General. My name is David Anderson and I represent the UNSC. Before we go any further I want to let you know that unlike the UED fleet, we are not here to take over."

Raynor observed the man as he talked. He was a tall black man and his clothing was definitely more elaborate and 'fancy' then what the UED had used. "What is it that you need, Admiral. I doubt that Earth cares enough about a small fringe world like Koprulu to send a fleet here."

"You're right about that, general. But I don't want to talk over this unsecured connection. Would it be alright with you if I and a few of my guards could come down to meet with you in person?" This made Raynor raise an eyebrow. Did the Admiral really want to come planet side just to talk, or was there more to his request than he wanted to say? Raynor saw no reason to deny the Admiral and said that he would be very welcome to come down and talk.

After the talk with the admiral, Raynor decided to be cautious and dressed in his CMC armor. You didn't get to live very long in Koprulu if you just relied on luck. Once he was dressed and ready, Tychus finally arrived in the shuttle. Now all Raiders on Mar Sara were inside the base, ready to defend it if necessary.

Only one dropship decended from the fleet and landed inside the base. Out of the ship came five lightly armored soldiers and the Admiral. Raynor greeted the group and together they entered the command center.

"A pleasure to meet you General Raynor."

"Likewise, Admiral. And welcome to Mar Sara. Now on to business, why are you here? I know it's not for some misguided attempt to bring the sector under control." Raynor was studying the scanner results on the ships in the fleet. Several things caught his attention, like the truly massive main canons that all ships seamed to be equipped with.

Anderson sat down in one of the chairs. The conference room had some basic luxuries like leather chairs and a big table that doubled as a holo display. Right now it was cycling through the different ship classes in his fleet. First thing to do was to brief the General on his mission to this sector, so that he could avoid causing any unnecessary conflict.

"Raynor, I think you would need a short history lesson before we continue. After the UPL sent you on this one way trip to the edge of known space, a trip that should have brought you only a fraction of the distance here, they were overthrown by a united alliance who would eventually form the United Earth Directory, or UED for short. The UNSC was formed to control all aspects of the military, leaving the UED with control of the civilian government. When humanity had spread so far and wide that a single government couldn't control every world, the UED voted to form the Colonial Administration Authority." At that moment Anderson held up his hand. "Thomas, would you connect to the holo table please. It would be so much easier to show the General than to just tell him." The A.I connected with the table and showed files on the CAA.

"As you can see from these files, the moment CAA took control of the fringe worlds we started to receive reports of insurrection among many colonies. The Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI for short, has been trying to find concrete evidence that they are behind the insurrection. One of my objectives here is to capture any surviving officers from the UED fleet for interrogation."

As Raynor listened to the Admirals short history lesson, the holo display showed images from key points. Soon Raynor began to see the truth behind the CAA. Now he could understand why the UNSC would send a fleet all the way out here, but it still didn't explain why the fleet would be so large.

As an answerer, Anderson simply said, Zerg. Raynor could see the logic in that, a proper fleet to protect them in the face of the danger posed by the zerg.

"Fine, you have convinced me of your friendly intentions. Whats your second reason?"

"To asses the potential threat posed by the Zerg and the Protoss. UNSC HIGHCOM want to know if we need to send our fleets here to stop the zerg from spreading, and if it's possible to form friendly relations with the Protoss."

"Admiral, if you want to form friendly relations with the Protoss, just stick with me. I've helped them a few times, so they mostly like me. As for the Zerg, ever since the Queen of Blades, thats their leader, left a few years back theres been next to no sightings of them anywhere.

During their conversation, the expeditionary fleet was keeping close watch over the star system. One observant ensign spotted something odd on one the external cameras. What looked like some kind of organic spaceship with a design that made it look like a giant manta swept by, launching several pods into the atmosphere of Mar Sara. She didn't even bother to ask captain Cray for permission and directly called the Admiral. Something was going to attack Backwater Station soon.

* * *

A/N

If anyone is curious as to why this fic is Halo meets SC, and not SC meets ME, Then allow me to explain. I have placed this in the StarCraft/Mass Effect section because this story's main character is a SC character and not a Halo one. In this story, everything that has happened in SC took place in one of the many far off colony worlds that the UNSC is supposed to watch over. The main character of this fic (Our favorite, Commander Shepard) is the mysterious Magistrate from SC1, who just up and vanished in SC2. Samus is the ONLY survivor from the Metroid-verse. The flood, the Forerunners and the Halos killed the rest. She'll show up once someone manages to stumble upon her resting place. One Internet Muffin to anyone who can guess what planet in Koprulu I could semi-logically put her on. Hint, It's name contains the EXACT same letters, no more, no less.

I originally wanted the Jedi from Star Wars to make an appearance in this fic as the third generation of psionic humans. Just think about it, we have the mind reading skills, the telekinetic abilities, the training from young age thing and so on. I thought it would sort of explain itself. Ghosts eventually gave way for the enhanced Spectres. And when research into a micro biological life form showed that by exposing these 'Midi-chlorians' to the Spectre enhancements, they became psi sensitive. Injecting these into humans gave them the same powers as the Spectres, without the harmful side effects. But I feel as if I'm already surpassing the maximum allowed universes in the same fanfiction. Oh well, maybe I'll just write a Star Wars/Star Craft fic at a later time, or make something happen and Shepard gets exposed to them, or sum such...

Notes:

General Raynor. I will treat the alliance as canon, and because General Raynor is their leader, I will treat him as the 'leading his ground forces into battle' type of general. Not that Generals do that, but still.

Admiral Anderson. He becomes admiral, and I wanted him to be the leader of this group. So he's an Admiral.

Shepard has so far only been mentioned. One Internet cookie to the ones who can guess when, where and how Anderson meets her. (yes, FemShep.)

Tell me if I messed this up way to much or if it's at least a little bit believable. I've tried to blend these universes as much as I could and still keep to canon where I could.


	3. Chapter 2 Zero Hour

A/N

Q/A from the readers.

I have received a few questions in the reviews and PM's so I thought I might answerer some of them here.

Q. Will the Master Chief be in this story?

A. No. He might make an appearance but this story isn't about him.

Q. Is the UNSC more advanced than in canon?

A. Yes, a little more. I'll explain how and why in a later chapter but for now they have shields on their ships(not powerful ones, but still...) and some understanding of hard light technology(consoles, barriers, knives, etc etc)

Q. Halo MAC's kill N00B BC's

A. This isn't a question! And the Yamato gun is a particle canon, also battlecruisers (some at least) are equipped with plasma torpedoes. They are ~frigate sized(500-600m) and have energy shields(not shown in-game for balance issues)

Q. Y U NO UPPDAET?

A. LRN2SPELL. And I blame Far Cry 3 and Halo 4(also, I'm a slow writer and ended up scraping this chapter twice before I got something I didn't consider crap)

Also, before I get lots of PM's about it. Worgen, Tauren and Kaldorei elves are among the Azerothian's that the old Confederacy shipped out among the stars. (Night Elf Banshee/Templar, Tauren/Worgen Marine and if I see an opportunity I'll try to add the Pan-Terran Marine as well.) If it's in the game I'll consider them canon(L80ETC from the WoL q:Zero Hour) so I added the other Alliance races with marines(the L80ETC is friendly) as well.

* * *

**Legacy of the MANTLE**

**Ch.2 Zero Hour**

The two leaders stepped out of the command center only to be greeted by the sight of zerg sacs raining down from the sky. The news had come from the Enigma only moments ago, and now Backwater Station was preparing for the eventual zerg rush. Raynor knew that it wouldn't be long now and had started yelling out orders. Anderson walked next to him, his five ODST guards keeping their distance so they wouldn't get in the way.

The base was strategically constructed for maximum protection against attacks. Only two bridges lead into the lower ground, protected by fortified bunkers on the sides. Two more protected the ramp into the high ground. Anderson could appreciate the base design, it looked like something he himself might have built.

"Admiral, how good sharpshooters are your boys?" Anderson hadn't noticed that Raynor had shifted his attention to him.

"One of them is excellent, the others are adequate. Why?"

"I've got my hands on a crate of BOSUN FN92 sniper weapon systems. They're big, nasty and lethal. None of my boys here are any good with them, so if yours are then they can have them. The crate is in that barracks over there."

Anderson thanked the general and headed to the building. The ODST guards followed, and soon found themselves admiring the truly massive guns. They were longer than any the ODSTs had ever seen and were probably heavy enough to make them uncomfortable to carry. One of the free SCVs offered his services to carry the guns. Getting used to them wasn't hard, they were practically identical to their own SRS99 AM and as luck would have it, the scope targeting system could be connected with their HUD.

The Gunnery Sergeant in charge of the barracks signed out five FN92s, and the one C20A they had, for the group. As the SCV hefted the Big rifles onto it's forks, Anderson simply slung the lighter C20A onto his back. "You two, set up a sniper nest on the western corner, and get familiar with your big new toys." Anderson told the two black armored ODSTs on his right. He then pointed to the three on his left and told them to do the same on the eastern corner. He then joined the ones on the western side and checked his weapons.

The rifle had a few nice abilities, like grenade ammunition and a targeting laser beyond just shooting 25mm HE rounds. Putting on the Recon Hood that he got from the GySgt showed him the ammo type and rounds remaining. The targeting reticule allowed Anderson to aim without having to look through the scope.

Satisfied with his rifle, Anderson then checked his hand gun. The M6D Carnifex, it's M225 SAP-HE rounds would pierce armor and explode in soft tissue. It was a heavy pistol with a nasty recoil that could break the arm of anyone who didn't have power armor or Heavy Bone Weave implants. He was lucky to have that particular enhancement.

One of the ODSTs in his group finished his check and placed the rifle back on the ground. "Sir, why are we still here? I mean, shouldn't the fleet send some backup for us."

"They would if they could, corporal. But the fleet is currently fighting off the main Zerg force in orbit. It's why we haven't been overrun yet. I talked to Captain Cray but he said that every ship he sends out gets shot at immediately. We're stuck here until the fightings over, or Raynor's transport gets here." The SCV interrupted the conversation when he dropped of a crate of ammunition.

"Don't you fellas worry 'bout ammunition. We got lots a' that." He picked up the other ammo crate and headed over to the other sniper nest. Anderson gathered the ammo for his C-20A. There were the standard HE rounds in large quantities as well as four boxes of Hellfire grenades with five each and one box of Irradiate grenades. His HUD, connected to the local Battle-Net, showed the details of what each type could do. He was pleased to see that the Hellfire ones had a heat seeking mode, they would probably help him deal with anything airborne. The Irradiate grenades on the other hand would allow him to deal with masses of Zerg all at once.

Raynor walked up to Anderson's group and sat down. He carried his HEV rifle in his hands. His custom C-14 was attached to the magnetic strip on his back. The ODSTs stared at the gigantic sniper rifle. It looked big enough to be used as a mounted weapon on one of their warthogs.

"Admiral, how goes the battle in orbit?"

"Good so far. At least we've managed to avoid any major losses." Anderson then pointed at the base down below. "Do you think that the Zerg could break through our defenses?"

"With startling ease, Admiral. I don't have enough marines to assault the hives, and as long as those remain, the Zerg will just keep coming. It won't be long now. They'll start with only a few simple tests before the main assault starts."

That caught Anderson's attention. "Why would they try with only so few? Wouldn't it be more effective to circumvent our defenses rather than to target it?"

"For you and me, then I would say yes. But the Zerg are all slightly telepathic, what one see they all see and charging us with only a few will allow them to determine how to best attack. Besides, numbers have never meant anything to them. Even if you kill thousands one day, the next there could be many more."

Over by the command center, several SCV workers erected a tower of some kind. "It's a Sensor Tower. They let us track the Zerg beyond visual range. We don't have an eye in the sky, so we'll just have to rely on the tower." As Raynor explained of how the HUD minimap would mark hostiles in read and friendlies in green, Anderson took a moment to cycle through all settings until he finally got the hang of it.

"Warning, Zerg presence detected. All personnel to combat stations." The Adjutant's warning made the whole base go silent. There was a sound like that of a stampeding heard coming from the western canyon. Raynor sat down and took aim with his rifle. Anderson and the ODSTs did the same.

"Congratulations, Admiral. Looks like you get to see the Zerg first hand now. Try to aim for the snake-like things. Hydralisks are their main ranged unit. If we can deal with them before they get into range, then this will be so much easier."

Anderson didn't reply. Instead he loaded a Irradiate grenade and aimed it at the canyon entrance. His plan was simple, get the Zerg to charge through the deadly cloud. He waited and looked at the red dots on the map. Just before they reached the exit, Anderson fired the grenade. The recoil wasn't so bad and Anderson could follow the path of the deadly projectile with ease. It hit the ground just inside the canyon and released the cloud of irradiated particles.

The first wave of Zerg to enter the cloud never made it through. They stumbled out and collapsed, creating a barrier that the following Zerg had to climb, forcing them to stay inside the cloud a little longer. On his side the two ODST's fired their FN92's and several Zerglings dropped dead right on top of the others, making the narrow pass even more difficult to navigate. On the right the other sniper team managed to litter the ground with dead zerglings.

"General, I didn't see any Hydralisks." Anderson reloaded his C-20A and readied himself for the next wave.

"There were none, this wave was just to have a look at what they're up against. The next few rounds of combat will be much heavier and hopefully we wont have to experience any zerg rushes." Noticing the slightly confused look on Anderson's face he explained. "That's when they send everything they have at once. Don't be surprised if the next wave consists of thousands of angry zerg. It's part of their strategy."

"I see. Lets hope that they don't think we are interesting enough to do that. I'd like to survive until my fleet can win in space, or your transport gets here." He was going to continue asking some questions when the radio sparked and a message came through.

"To anyone hearing this message, we're pinned down near Backwater Station! Please assist!" Raynor simply stood up. "Fire team four and nine, with me! We've got a group of survivors trapped nearby. Let's go save them!" And with that he took of with a small group of marines and medics. "Admiral, hold down the fort until I'm back."

Anderson changed his radio to the command frequency and maintained vigil watch over the two canyons. Several minutes passed in relative quiet before a panicked voice broke the silence. "Zerg pods on approach." Looking up Anderson could see several spots in the clear sky. Quickly, they grew into the recognizable forms of the zerg sacs. "Ready base, we're about to be hit from the air." Anderson yelled into the comm unit.

The marines knew what to expect, that the sacs were just a distraction and that the main attack would come as soon as the sacs hit the ground. And right on time the ground started to shake as the swarm descended on the defenders.

Anderson watched one of the sacs veer off course and land on the high ground just behind the Admiral. Without hesitating, he dropped his sniper rifle and pulled out his M6D and started running for the impact site. The first two rounds he fired killed the first two zerglings that tried to rush him. The heavy 12.7x40mm rounds easily pierced their carapace and exploded inside. Behind them was a Hydralisk who was just rising from the gooey remains of the zerg sac. Anderson closed his left hand and instantly a hard light blade formed. Without stopping he jabbed the blade into the head of the hydralisk and then rolled over the now dead zerg unit. Once on the other side he put two more rounds into the back of head just to be sure.

Once the attack ceased Anderson called out for a soundoff. "West bunker, we're good." "East bunker, a few scratches but we're good." He sighed. That attack had been more intense than the last one. He briefly wondered what had happened to Raynor when the radio sparked.

"Admiral, is my base still standing?" Raynor's joke was countered without missing a beat.

"I might have put a few dents into it, and scratched the paint on one of your bunkers. But other than that, nothing to report."

"Good, I just picked up another stranded team out here. I'm still missing one team though, but I have a good idea where they might have taken their refuge. It's on a hill to the west. I'll go there and look. Anyway, how goes the battle in space?"

Anderson sighed. "It's not as bad as it could have been. We haven't lost anyone yet but it's only a matter of time now. How can a purely biological species like the zerg be so effective in space combat?"

"I learned years ago that you should never underestimate the zerg, you'll live longer that way. I know how they work, this is their MO. Soon there will be a full on rush before the final assault. My ride should be here before then. I hope. Anyway, I'll be no more then five more minutes before I'll head back."

"Good, I'll see you then." Anderson raised his rifle again and put a few rounds into the rapidly approaching zerglings down below. After a few hectic minutes of killing zerg, a massive roar filled the air. The zerg were on their way. This time it was proving much harder to repel them than before. Anderson was unloading rounds left and right. From his position high on the ledge, he could clearly see the battlefield. He sorely missed not having some form of artillery as the design of the base channeled them into two small killing fields. If it weren't for the massive guns the armored marines used then the zerg would easily have overrun the base.

"Admiral, it's Raynor. I found the last group of marines and we're making our way back to the base now. We'll be coming from the western canyon, so could you please not shoot us?"

"Got it General. All units, be aware that Raynor and the survivors are coming through the western canyon, clear the way and then focus on the eastern side."

The group of marines, lead by Raynor, finally broke through the zerg and made it into the base. With them was a massive marine, towering over the rest. As they approached Anderson he realized that it wasn't a human but an alien.

"Admiral, I just received a call from Matt. The Hyperion just entered the atmosphere. We'll be out of here in a few minutes" he pointed at the huge, nearly 12 feet tall marine standing next to him, "This is Turok Quillsplitter, a Tauren from the planet Azeroth. He is a member of the Tauren Marine Squad. The zerg had cornered him to the north. "

The Tauren then stepped forward and reached out his massive hand. "Greetings, Admiral. Call me Q, it's easier then saying my name." The booming voice of the Tauren was deep and rough. Anderson shook hands with him, but before he could introduce himself he heard the roaring of engines and looked up. There, descending in the flames of re-entry was the hammer-head form of the Hyperion, former flag-ship of Arcturus Mengsk.

"Pack up, our ride's here" Raynor yelled into the comm. before he switched channel to contact the Hyperion. "Matt, drop-ships. Now!" The reply was nearly instant. "At once, sir"

Backwater station had suddenly turned into a bee-hive of activity as everyone abandoned their posts in order to get to the high ground. With the battlecruiser holding position there was no need to hold the bunkers. A group of Special Ops Dropships descended from the overhead battlecruiser. With practiced ease, the evacuation was completed within minutes.

Anderson followed Raynor to the bridge. As they passed the last blastdoor Raynor called out to Matt. "Cutting it kinda close there Matt." The Captain turned his eyes from the many screens and focused on Raynor. "Never left you hanging before sir"

Raynor nodded at that. "Fair enough, now get us out of here"

Matt turned back to the screens. "All batteries, concentrate forward firepower, spin up drives two and six. All hands, brace for warp jump on my mark."

That got Anderson's attention. He turned to face Raynor. "Can we jump in-atmosphere?"

"It's not recommended for long jumps, but we are only jumping to the Sara systems star so we'll be OK."

Matt looked at his wristwatch and silently counted down to the full minute mark. As soon as the timepiece reached the zenith he called it. "mark"

The ship made it's jump, leaving the swarm of zerg fliers behind, seething in futile rage at having lost their prey.

* * *

A few minutes earlier, in high orbit over Mar Sara.

The battle finally managed to turn to the advantage of the UNSC fleet. Captain Cray had managed to deploy most of his compliment of fighter ships to engage the zerg. The destroyers and the frigates were the only ships fast enough to properly utilize their MAC's. Just holding orbit was proving to be difficult as the zerg numbers simply overwhelmed the clumsy Longsword fighters.

"Captain Cray. One unidentified ship just appeared on the radar. It's cruiser sized."

"Is it attacking?"

"No sir, but it's charging right through the zerg like they're not even there."

Cray sat down in his chair. What more could go wrong now, this was supposed to just be a simple diplomatic mission and now it had turned into a sluggfest with the zerg. And now this unknown ship appeared. He briefly wondered if they should shoot it down but decided against it. In the end he chose to win this fight and then ask Anderson for instructions.

One of the officers broke him out of his thoughts. "Sir, massive energy spike down on the surface. It's coming from that ship that passed us earlier."

"What are they doing?"

"I think they might do a jump."

"In atmosphere? Are they suicidal or what. Clear the way, don't let them hit us."

The officer monitored the screen and eventually informed the captain that they had made their jump. "Alright everyone, break off and retreat. Someone find me that ship."

For a few minutes only the rapid tapping on the hard-light consoles was heard before one of them yelled "Found them! They jumped closer to the local star."

Micro jump us there at once" the captain called. Soon the entire fleet engaged their slipspace drives and jumped to were the Hyperion had jumped.

* * *

A/N

I'm not to fond of this chapter, I feel that it's a bit to short and simple. The actual Zero Hour mission is a simple hold the fort mission and is only difficult if you try to do something extra, like not lose anyone or kill all the zerg on the map.

If anyone is curious then I'll tell you now. I have planed out three steps for this fic. First I'll do the star craft part where Anderson befriends Shepard(the Magistrate), then I'll do the Halo part where we get to see how she becomes his protégé. Third will be the end of the Covenant war and the eventual meeting with the Citadel races. I haven't planed beyond that part, and it's still far off so I have time...

I'm not sure if I managed to do this mission justice. I tried my best.


End file.
